The eruption near Grindavik Iceland has calmed down a bit, with activity now concentrated in just a couple of vents along the 4km fissure that opened the 18th.
The thinking is that there is still a lot of potential for another outbreak long the magma tunnel that lies just below the surface. The hazard maps have been updated twice today, the latest shows the highest risk areas in purple, with the new lava flows also noted around the fissures in darker purple/gray:
So despite the fact the flows have decreased, there is still a high risk of future activity. There was fear this morning of an imminent eruption closer to Grindavik itself (area 4 in these maps), but that has lessened somewhat. This situation is dangerous because of the short warning times – the time between the first indication of something amiss and lava erupting at the surface Tuesday was only 90 minutes!
In other news, I was preparing some notes on various geopolitical situations this morning, and it is truly frightening how many situations are on the verge of getting out of hand. Israel/Gaza-Lebanon, Red Sea, Ukraine, Venezuela/Guyana, etc.. I did go ahead and do the update/post on the blog with some notes on the Ukraine madness, for those who are interested.